Targums

The targumim (singular: "targum", Hebrew: תרגום‎‎) were spoken paraphrases, explanations and expansions of the Jewish scriptures (also called the Tanakh) that a Rabbi would give in the common language of the listeners, which was then often Aramaic. That had become necessary near the end of the 1st century BCE, as the common language was in transition and Hebrew was used for little more than schooling and worship. The noun "Targum" is derived from the early semitic quadriliteral root 'trgm', and the Akkadian term 'targummanu' refers to "translator, interpreter". It occurs in the Hebrew Bible in Ezra 4:7 "... and the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian tongue and interpreted ('tirgam') in the Syrian tongue." Besides denoting the translations of the Bible, the term Targum also denote the oral rendering of Bible lections in synagogue, while the translator of the Bible was simply called hammeturgem (he who translates). Other than the meaning "translate" the verb Tirgem also means "to explain". The word Targum refers to "translation" and argumentation or "explanation".

Writing down the targum was prohibited; nevertheless, some targumatic writings appeared as early as the middle of the first century CE. They were then not recognized as authoritative by the religious leaders, however. Some subsequent Jewish traditions (beginning with the Babylonian Jews) accepted the written targumim as authoritative, and eventually, it became a matter of debate. Today, only Jews from the republic of Yemen continue to use the targumim liturgically.

As translations, the targumim largely reflect midrashic interpretation of the Tanakh from the time they were written and are notable for eschewing anthropomorphisms in favor of allegorical readings. (Maimonides, for one, notes this often in The Guide for the Perplexed.) That is true both for those targumim that are fairly literal as well as for those that contain many midrashic expansions.

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